Author's note: I promise that not every single Sofia scene will be like this. Just the first few...


Sofia hastily threw together her lunch, scolding herself for sleeping in on her first day back to school, as her mother carried her baby brother into the kitchen.

"You're sure you'll be okay? I can call you out for another day, if you need me to." Margaret asked, setting the small boy in his highchair. Sofia managed a slight smile, though her stomach was still in knots.

"Yes, mom. I'll be fine." It couldn't be further from the truth, but she didn't want to worry her parents any more than she already had, and she really couldn't afford to miss even more classes.

"At least get your dad to drive you." Sofia nodded that she would, shoving the lunchbox into her backpack and hurrying outside.

"Your mother's really worried about you, you know." Richard told her, glancing over at Sofia while waiting for the red light to change. "You should let her make an appointment, just to put her mind at ease."

"I'll think about it." Sofia mumbled, staring out her window. The car started up again, and her mind wandered as she watched the houses and trees fly by outside the tinted glass.

...

"Hiraeth." Grace announced, sitting beside her at the lunch table. Sofia glanced up at her in surprise, sure she'd misheard her new friend because her mind had been wandering again. "It's a welsh word that means 'homesick for a place that doesn't exist'. Isn't that exactly what you were describing on the phone yesterday?"

Sofia chewed her lip, trying to decide whether the definition fit the sensation she kept feeling.

"Sort of. Is there a word for the same thing, but with a person?" When the other girl didn't seem to grasp her meaning, Sofia elaborated. "Like you miss a person who doesn't exist, maybe even feel like you love someone that you've never met." Grace shrugged her slender shoulders, using the bottom of her green polo shirt, part of their school uniform, to grasp the lid of her milk so she could open it.

"Dunno. I only knew that word because I looked it up on the internet." She confessed, leaving Sofia to dwell on these indescribable new feelings. "Maybe it's just puberty." She teased, poking Sofia in her already sensitive stomach.

"Don't joke." The redhead warned, though she stuck her tongue out at Grace. "I haven't... you know, 'started' yet, and from what I hear I am in no hurry to." She whispered, not wanting such an embarrassing topic to be overheard.

"But your stomach hurts, right? Maybe you didn't catch my flu..." Grace teased, unwilling to let the uncomfortable subject drop. "You might be about to start at any minute."

"Can we talk about something else? Anything else?" Sofia pleaded, picking the crust off of her sandwich, unable to drum up an appetite to actually eat it.

"Like boys?" Sofia rolled her eyes, almost as reluctant to discuss that matter. "Girls?" Grace tried again, and Sofia shook her head.

"That's not it. Boys as a whole are fine. I'm just not particularly interested in any of them." She tried to explain, though she knew that as lame as it sounded in her head, it must sound even moreso to the boy-crazy teen sitting next to her. A strong smell from Grace's lunch hit her, sending shockwaves through her body, and she stood, making a mad dash for the nearest rest room without even excusing herself first.

"Okay, I was wrong. Clearly you did catch the flu, sorry." Grace called through the stall door a few minutes later. Sofia unlatched the lock, letting the thin blonde slip inside with her. "We should go to the infirmary, Sofia."

"No, my mom's worried enough as it is, and Jake will be taking his nap. I can't ask her to wake him up just to come get me." Sofia slid to the floor, too sick to care how gross it must be, and leaned her head against the stall. "Keep it a secret?"

"Of course." Grace agreed, offering a hand to help Sofia back to her feet, a gesture the shorter girl happily accepted.

...

Urgent knocking at his door shook Cedric awake, though it took his sleep addled brain a few extra seconds to comprehend that he was still on the hard stone floor of his workshop, and that Sofia was safe. If his instructions were followed properly, which he was confident that they were, he could even be sure that the princess would be loved and taken care of should anything unfortunate prevent him from joining her.

He opened his mouth to call out to the person on the other side of his threshold, but they had no intention of waiting for an invitation. The door flung open, the sound of wood slamming against the wall echoing through the workshop as King Roland marched inside. Cedric smirked, surprised it took him until after dawn to storm the place.

"Cedric, what have you done?" He demanded, glowering down at the sorcerer.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're referring to." He tried, struggling to his feet, but Roland was in no mood for his obvious lie.

"Where did you hide Sofia?" He pressed, and Cedric had to fight hard to hide the fact that the king still intimidated him after all this time. You won't find her, I've seen to that. Cedric shook his head, aware that the pretense was pointless, but also that withholding the information was the only way to keep her safe, consequences be damned.

"Maybe she ran away?" He suggested. Roland grabbed the collar of his tunic roughly, and Cedric fought to keep his eyes open, sure he was about to get punched but too stubborn to flinch when it happened. The king released him suddenly, beginning to pace the floor beside the work table.

"You've damned the entire kingdom. You know that, right?" He didn't bother to look to Cedric for an answer to the question. "Her marriage was the only thing moving our peace talks forward, it was the buttress of the entire negotiation. Without Sofia, we're lost."

"You wanted to marry your only surviving daughter to a brute!" Cedric snapped, unable to hold back his anger. Roland shot him a pained look, sinking into the chair beside Cedric's desk, completely defeated by one simple statement.

"Believe me, I know." He breathed, rubbing his face in aggravation. "And I know what sort of position that put you in - better than you think I do." Cedric opened his mouth to respond. To defend himself, perhaps. Words failed him, so he quickly shut it again.

"How could you? You helped raise her, for gods' sakes." And there it was, the main reason he had kept their relationship a secret for all those months, even though Sofia wanted nothing more than to walk through the gardens arm-in-arm, to be seen dancing together at all the social events, to so much as hold hands in public. All those simple acts he'd felt it necessary to deny her, and now she was gone and it turned out the king had known all along. "You're old enough to be her father."

"I assure you, it was never my intention to..." No, it didn't matter what his intentions were. What was done could never be undone, and no feeble excuses could change what happened even if he wanted to, which quite frankly he didn't. "I never harmed her."

"No, you just signed the death sentence of every man, woman, and child in Enchancia rather than hand her over." Roland's words may have been harsh, but his demeanor softened as he regarded the sorcerer carefully. "I would never accuse you of hurting Sofia, but I can't accept what happened between you, and I have to insist that you tell me where she is."

"The safest place to hide something is one even the hider cannot find." Roland nodded sadly, rising out of the seat.

"When I come back, it will be with the Royal Guard." He announced, heading for the tower door. "I'm sorry that it has to be like this, but you've left me no choice."

"I could have gone with her, but I stayed to help fight. If we can win this, we can bring her back!" Cedric didn't really hope to persuade him, but he had to try. When the king disappeared down the stone stairs, he took one last look around his tower, retrieved his wand case, and transported himself back to Merlin's fortress.